The Holy Spirit

My two oldest kids go to a parish school. This means that a significant part of their daily curriculum includes Christian Education (or Catechism). They do a Bible story and prayers like the Lord's Prayer. As is tradition in the Catholic Church, all prayers end in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. My boys are accustomed to all this, yet have somehow in their childish minds compartmentalized their religious lives. This means that they have their school religion and they have their 'rest of their lives' religion (our Mennonite protestant faith).

This past weekend we had Church Camp. All the people from our church met up at a camp for 2 1/2 days of great companionship, terere, eating, etc. It was amazing to see old friends again. Sunday morning we had a time of worship all together. Worship begins and the music leader begins to pray for the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts as we seek Him in prayer/song. My youngest of the two boys (age4) whips around in his chair with a surprised look on his face, "MAMA! She said Holy Spirit! Does she know my school?"

It was so funny that i couldn't help but giggle. But after the laughter died down a deeper thought came through my mind... Why did my son think that the Holy Spirit only had to do with his school? Had he never heard of it at church w/ us? Apparently he hadn't. What a sad moment i had when i realized the "absence" of the Holy Spirit in our lives. What makes us as Christians shy away from the Holy Spirit? Does it perhaps have to do with his mystical nature? Does it have to do w/ his transcendence  He's just too non-natural to our limitless mind and therefore we prefer to overlook his/its reality than have to meditate on its importance in our lives?

Something has to change to make sure that my kids (and I) get a "healthy dose of the Holy Spirit". Perhaps i'll start w/ myself and learn more about what the Holy Spirit is and what significance he/it has in my life. Only by knowing will i know how to explain him to my children.

As I type this up and have the Holy Spirit floating around in my mind, i'm kinda warming up to the idea of how the Catholic church ends their prayers. How appropriate to recognize our God's complete deity!!

... in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit...